Discovery Capital MD Adam Miethke discusses macro themes for investors at the Kalgoorlie Super PITch event

Sonia Madigan:

Well, one of the highlights of Kalgoorlie’s Diggers & Dealers event for 2023 is the Kalgoorlie Super PITch event.

Now, that’s the brainchild of Discovery Capital Partners, and I’m joined by the Managing Director Adam Miethke. Welcome, Adam.

Adam Miethke:

Thank you, Sonia. Good to be here with you guys as well.

Sonia Madigan:

Now, this is the second Super PITch event. What’s it all about?

Adam Miethke:

The idea of the Super PITch was to get some of our clients that tend to be in small to mid-cap land that doesn’t necessarily get an invite to present at the conference itself, to speak in front of an audience of brokers, investors, and just get that exposure that they don’t necessarily get through the conference.

So we thought this sort of venue, this sort of layout in a nice open pub, serving some
beers and burgers, it’s a pretty good way to generate a bit of crowd activity.

Sonia Madigan:

So how did it go?

Adam Miethke:

Oh look, last year was our trial, it was a concept, we invited 80 and we had 157 come.

So we thought this sort of concept works.

This year, with the help of The Market Herald and some additional sponsors, I don’t know the number for today, but it was a lot more people.

I thought the presenters did an exceptional job so the feedback’s been great.

And I think the concept of the Super PITch, none of us love listening to a half an hour pitch.

I think if you’re selling a product, being able to sell that product in three to five minutes should do the job.

Sonia Madigan:

So tell us a little bit more about Discovery Capital Partners.

Who do you serve?

Adam Miethke:

So our target market is the small to mid-cap metals and mining sector.

We’re based in WA, so it’s logical to service that part of the industry.

I’m a geologist by background, and my ability to identify opportunities that are good, de-risk them, and articulate that risk and opportunity upside to investors is our kind of differentiating factor as a group.

We started seven years ago and wrapped a business model around that concept.

Done pretty well, we’ve got heaps of clients.

We’ve listed 20 companies on the ASX, and we’ve raised about $900 million for the small-cap junior resource sector.

So really giving life to that part of the market which deserves it.

Sonia Madigan:

So of course the Kalgoorlie Super PITch is part of the Kalgoorlie Diggers & Dealers event.

What are some of the macro themes for investors that you’re hearing on the ground?

Adam Miethke:

I think one of the overarching themes in the last particularly 12 months has been a lack of interest from investors in stable commodities, and really, interest has turned to battery metals and future-facing critical minerals, which is fantastic, but really it’s taken a lot of liquidity and investor interest out of the market towards these sectors.

So you’ve got these really great Western Australian gold companies whose equity value is really underperforming just from a lack of interest from retail and punters in the market.

So that’s probably an overarching theme.

The capital markets are still alive in terms of raising money for good projects, they should always get a hearing from the market, but certainly raising money for a lithium company is a lot easier than for a gold company.

Sonia Madigan:

Now is there a risk then that there will be too many of these mining and exploration companies working in the battery metal space?

Adam Miethke:

Not all projects go from exploration development into production so it’s normal that you’ve got a lot of exposure in the market to exploration companies, and some have had some really great success.

They’re not all going to experience that success, ultimately it’s going to be dictated
by the market and supply-demand fundamentals.

There have been some fantastic discoveries in WA, particularly in the last 12 months and they will become mines.

I don’t think we’ll be at a point of exhaustion in terms of having a terminal market
that can’t accept the supply coming from WA, so good luck to them all.